00: Fall

A light rain had begun to fall as he finished laying the coloured roses against the memorial stone. He had come here, every day since it happened, with a fresh rose to lay, each a symbol of his everlasting love for the one whose ashes rested here now. 

If he counted the days to the exact number, it had been 1460 days... Four years. Four Years without him, without his infectious smile that lit up any room he walked into, even as he suffered quietly on his own. 

He had been a silent hero up until his last moments.

Though this day, was not just a regular day, this was the exact day that marked those 4 years since he had been gone, and, as it did every instance he thought back to that final moment, the emotion flooded into his heart and mind like an unsuspecting tidal wave.

He glanced down at his hands, callused from years of playing his battered guitar, he recalled his hand in his own, his soft fingers caressing every bump on his fingers, so carefully. His murmurs of;

"You should take better care of your hands..." the small little smirk as he tried to attempt a feeble amount of humour. 

What he would give to hold his hand once more. Hold it to his lips, to his own beating heart that would always race when he was in close proximity of him. Hold him, and never let him go. 

He never held regrets in his own heart up until that moment, not entirely, he just wanted to make his final days the most wonderful days he could. Though, the incessant numbness he felt after he was no longer by his side, grew greater each passing day, though he did his best to hide it, for the sake of the one who raised him. 

He had to keep positive, that was what he had wanted...

He bit his lip now as he looked over his smiling portrait behind the glass, and he felt a sob rise in his throat before letting it out, hunching over, two hands pressed to the casing, shoulders shaking as he cried with all he had.

He composed himself not too long after, sniffing and wiping his eyes on the sleeve of his hoodie, before smiling a half-smile instead.

"Even though I knew, and even after everything that you went through, I never once, not once regretted loving you. It was you that gave me the courage to say your name out loud and not on paper that day, and I will never forget that. I love you... forever and always..."

After the suffering they endured together, he wouldn't have changed it for the world, because in their darkest hours, they found light in each other...a light that could never be extinguished, either in this world or the next...

hey, it's Alex! We're back, new and improved prologue, after five years I like to think I've improved somewhat!

I hope you enjoyed, and, as I said before, thank you from the bottom of my heart.

Your support for ATC is why I want to write as much as I can for you guys!

*heart*